Health and travel advice for Rio 2016

PHE and NaTHNaC outline health and travel advice for travellers going to the Olympics.

Public Health England (PHE) and the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) have published their advice for travellers planning to visit Brazil for the 2016 Olympic Games (5 August to 21 August) and the 2016 Paralympic Games (7 September to 18 September).

The Games are based in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and some events are being held in other parts of Brazil, including the Amazon.

The advice for the 2016 Olympics covers a variety of health and safety topics for travellers, including information about the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil. PHE and NaTHNaC currently recommend that pregnant women postpone non-essential travel to areas where there is active Zika virus transmission, until after pregnancy.

Dr Dipti Patel, director at NaTHNaC said:

A number of tropical diseases like malaria, dengue and yellow fever occur in some regions of Brazil and there are a range of other potential health hazards. We encourage travellers to seek travel health advice early, ideally 4 to 6 weeks before travel. This gives them time to organise any preventive measures, like vaccines or antimalarial tablets, which they may need. We also advise travellers to check NaTHNaC’s country information page for Brazil for specific recommendations.

The most commonly reported travel associated infection is travellers’ diarrhoea so travellers going to Brazil should follow good food hygiene advice, be cautious when choosing where and what to eat, and pay careful attention to personal hygiene. Just a little thought and some sensible practices can help sports fans avoid any unpleasant illnesses which could ruin their Olympic experience.

Travelling can offer an opportunity for rest and relaxation and other benefits. However, a bout of diarrhoea can spoil your trip and some travel associated infections, like malaria, can be very serious. Taking preventive measures to protect yourself and your family against possible health problems makes good sense, and this applies even if you were born in the country you are visiting.